The funny thing is that I judged a lot of these females by my first impressions of them, and was prepared to dislike many of them (and their skanky outfits). But their personalities, determination, and skills made me forget my first impression and I loved watching each of  them in their respective series. I seem to be very harsh on judging which female characters are worth my affection, probably more-so than male characters. Also, may as well say this ahead of time, I LOVE the Black Lagoon females…I can’t think of a single female from that series that didn’t have me pumped. Although only two made the list. This post contains SPOILERS for * One Piece, Gurren Lagann*. Here is a list of my favorite Shonen/Seinen Guys.

#10 – Nia (Gurren Lagann)

Nia would be a lot higher up if it hadn’t taken so long for me to warm up to her, also another female in the series completely overshadowed her for me.  I admit that when I first saw her I thought she was the most silly looking character in the series! Her hair looked like cotton candy and her eyes looked like flowers, she looked ridiculously over cutsey for me. Not to mention that she arrived right after a very significant character died, and I kind of saw her as a terrible replacement. But as an adult her appearance looked more enchanting than corny/cutsey. By the end of the series I cared for her existance a lot and cried a bit when she could no longer hold her being together, seeing her disappear right after marrying Simon was a heartbreaking scene for me. 

# 9 – Casca (Berserk)

A wonderfully strong female character. But, currently I’m only partway through what’s available in the U.S. for Berserk manga and well…I’m sensing trouble ahead. When it comes to Berserk the feeling of “trouble ahead” usually results in considerable death and destruction. I love and hate how terribly tragic this series seems to be. But Casca and her fighting skills (that rival most men in a series of VERY strong men) is stronger than most of these other females on this list. Because she seems to have achieved her formidable strength through lots of training and scars alone, and without any firearms. Casca doesn’t get a leg up from any sort of supernatural sources of power either.  As much as I love gals with wacky powers, nothing beats a character that fights with nothing but her human grit and training. Although I admit…I should pick up the next volume of the series and see her fate. Perhaps everything I said above no longer applies to her.

# 8 – Erza (Fairy Tail)

Erza is the female character I wish was in every Shonen series, strong right from the start in mind, body, and abilities. Not only that, but she’s kind to those around her.  She doesn’t win her battles with cheap gimmicks and illusions! She pounds you down with her armor and weapons. Although she does have the magical ability to re-equip in an instant into a different suit of armor with different properties. After all, in this series all the fighters are magical.

# 7 – Clare (Claymore)

I didn’t realize it until now…but I seem to have a soft spot for females in heavy armor? Three in a row. Clare is probably one of the most tight lipped of the gals in this list for how much screen time she has. We get to know her through the eyes of a boy that was abandoned by a village. I admit I like Clare’s appearance a lot, she looks like a pale goddess of war, to this day my figure of her is still one of my favorites. Although she has a fairly bland personality it comes across well that it’s only the surface to someone with deep emotions and pain. Her goal since she was a child was one simple thing, revenge. And I love a good tale of vengeance.

# 6 – Boa Hancock (One Piece)

The most beautiful woman in the world of One Piece and the leader of an island of Amazon style female warriors. Another female I immediately detested, her over the top pride and vanity were too much for me. Not to mention she treated her subjects with an unforgiving iron fist. Even after her woeful back story was revealed I still wasn’t feeling all THAT much warmth for her. But her complete dedication to Luffy and helping him attain his goals (with some wonderful laugh out loud moments along the way) made her one of my favorite One Piece females. Her love for Luffy makes her a wonderfully absurd character. Love turned a nasty beast of a woman into a simple pure hearted school girl, at least when she’s around Luffy.

# 5 – Rider (Fate: Stay/Night)

I liked her design from the moment she popped up on the screen. Her fighting style was fun to watch and allowed me to forget the nagging feeling that the Fate: Stay/Night anime wasn’t as entertaining as it could have been. Although her entrance and exit in the anime series was too quick for me, I had many unanswered questions about Rider that I researched after. A quick glance at her Wikipedia article gave me so much more information that made me like her even more. Someday I would love to play the visual novel just to see her story first hand in its first media format.

# 4 – Revy (Black Lagoon)

Revy in action is fun to watch, and her straight forward approach to fights and death is refreshing. Once she encountered an assassin that wanted to make a fancy entrance (typical shonen style) and Revy simply shot him before he could finish his introduction. Although Revy is a powerful foe…Black Lagoon is always producing enemies that are just as intimidating as our female lead.

#3 – Nami (One Piece)

Oh Nami, you are by far the the weakest fighter on this list. Although I give her credit that she still fights despite not having notable physical strength or Devil’s Fruit powers. I disliked Nami intensely in the beginning of the series, when she stole Luffy’s boat I REALLY wanted to see her punished. I could see why Luffy wanted her to be a part of the crew, but she seemed like too much like a selfish brat to be anything worthwhile. There are a lot of arguments about which character in One Piece has the most tragic backstory, and my opinion is that Nami wins hands down. She was forced to become a part of the pirate crew that killed her adoptive mother and was holding her entire island hostage. In order to prevent her island from uprising and dying off in a fight in their attempt to free her, she pretended that she willingly changed sides. All the while she spent her entire life stealing from other pirates in order to buy back her island from the Captain, and just when she had saved enough…he hired someone to steal it all so he’d have everything, the island, Nami (the genuis navigator/map maker), and the money for the island.

#2 – Yoko (Gurren Lagann)

Yoko’s appearance made me avoid watching Gurren Lagann for quite some time. My first impression of her is a character that exists only for fanservice and to carry around a big gun…and to some extent that’s true. But Yoko has a lot of strength and personality that won me over completely.  Even after her love (Kamina) died she didn’t hesitate to move forward and continue his fight with the rest of the crew. There were lots of wonderful things that made Gurren Lagann great, but I feel like Yoko was the heart of what made it an amazing series.

#1 – Balalaika (Black Lagoon)

The most fearsome woman in any series I’ve ever experienced. Her every action has me holding my breath I feel like she is an axe hanging by a string over the heads of the Black Lagoon crew, and that at some point when she and them clash there will be an insane/brutal fight. She doesn’t get all that much screen time in Black Lagoon, but when she’s on screen I can’t look at anything else.

Aya (Tenjho Tenge)
Mion (When They Cry)
Shenhua (Black Lagoon)
Roberta (Black Lagoon)
Fuu (Samurai Champloo)
Bellemere (One Piece)
Rangiku (Bleach)
Nel (Bleach)
Tsunade (Naruto)
Bulma (Dragonball)
Lucy (Fairy Tail)
Yakumo (School Rumble)
Teresa (Claymore)
Teacher (FullMetal Alchemist)
Victoria (Hellsing)
Beatrice (When They Cry)
(Inubaka)
Arcuied (Tsukihime Lunar Legend)
Rin (Fate: Stay/Night)
Saber (Fate: Stay/Night
(March Story)
(Fallen Vampire)
(Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei)